Dark Munster

In fairness, if Redmond was able emulate Henry I don't see why Obafemi can't emulate Bale.

Does a 2 card yellow sending off suspension apply to the next league match? I know a straight red does, but not sure if a 2 yellow does. Either way, a second yellow would be most welcome.

If we do bring someone in I hope the scouts who recommended the likes of Enouseless, Hoedt, Vest, etc. are not involved (and no longer work for the club, for that matter).

That was us until a couple of seasons ago. We had a consistently awful injury record, in stark contrast to Leicester who never seemed to have more than one or two injuries (especially during their miracle season). I think Pearson had a lot to do with that, and they have continued it to this day. Something seems to have changed at SMS, and credit to our current (new?) physios/sport science guys for turning it around. It's massive keeping the majority of players fit. Bournemouth and Newcastle being prime examples of what happens if you don't.

Yes, definitely. Not sure when though.

Exactly this. And the VAR is a professional referee, not some random bloke with a monitor. Plus having the on field ref going over to a monitor will slow the game down. As others have said, change the offside rule so only feet positions count, and give the VAR 30 seconds max to make a decision. If he's not 100% certain, the goal stands. Occasionally a goal will be scored by a player 1 cm offside. Tough luck, take it on the chin, and move on. If it happens to us I wouldn't get apoplectic about it (unlike that Wembley call, and the Watford basketball player's "goal").

Whitey Grandad's TV:

True. And we may have won!

Don't know if he's any good, but that's the type of player we need. Central striker who can score.

Maybe we could convince Monaco to buy him?

His disallowed goal was well-taken and only mm offside, and he had a very nice assist for the first goal. I thought he did ok. Incidentally Romeu was ok too, not sure he's getting slagged off by some here. He's a good player, but not really suited to park the bus teams. Better suited to ones that come at us (like Leicester will next week). I thought Vest, Boufal and Adam's had disappointing games, although the latter had a nice assist on the second goal. Danso is also getting slagged off, but he's not a RB. I don't think he was that bad, and he's got a nice throw in. Everyone else was ok, even if no one was outstanding. Job done.

So were some of the shirt pulls.

No yellows for all those Huddersfield shirt pulls, but Long gets one for clipping a player's foot.

If he's available I wouldn't mind Saints going in for him.

The may indeed beat us, but it won't be easily*. We're playing well and full of confidence. *Unless it's raining cats and dogs, and Bertie gets sent off early in the match.

Wow, Saints have an incredible number of clans. Hopefully none of them are Klu Klux.

So you're confident Ings won't get injured from now until the end of the season?

... and if we had beaten Burnley, Newcastle, West Ham and Bournemouth we'd already be celebrating another season in the PL and in the hunt for Europe.

I can see in the not too distant future that a computer would be used to analyse the video and give an offside verdict with 99.9% accuracy, all within 10 seconds. The only downside is when it's implemented poor old Whitey Grandad's head would explode!

Me too. I think it was because Kane had gone off.

With Bednarek and Stephens in good form, and with 2 or 3 back ups available, surely a LB back up is the priority, along with a goal scorer if Ings gets injured (newsflash to the club: we're ****ed if he does). Last season there were 3 crap teams at the bottom. This season there doesn't seem to be even one. No time for complacency this time. Which means of course the club will be.

Normally yes, but this season doesn't look normal. Even the bottom club looks semi-decent. On top of that the top teams are dropping more points than usual. Leicester are doing really well of course, and Liverpool are unstoppable. But below those two the usual big 6 are hemorrhaging lots of points. Look at Arsenal's point tally for example, and our wins against Chelsea (and Spurs today). Even the mighty Man City aren't their usual selves, and with the title all but over I can see them taking their foot off the gas in the second half, coasting to a top 4 finish with minimal effort and focusing on the CL. Either way, it looks like a real dogfight at the bottom. Hopefully we're not involved and can sit back and have a good laugh at the ones involved.

As I said, I don't know whether to look up or down.

Could well be. And after that 9-0 maybe Ralph went back to listening to his number 2 again.

Has there been a mass brawl in the WHam - Bompey match yet? With 8 players red carded, match abandoned, and 3 points deducted from both teams?